It is Monday evening here now and I have let the day slip by without an update so will repent before retiring for the evening. For FHE tonight it was our first opportunity for all 7 couples to be together in June so we spent the evening telling stories of our relationships with our fathers. The other couples are impressed that my Dad and Mom are coming to spend a week and Barb and I are really looking forward with great anticipation to their arrival in 48 hours. Since we didn't take a break with the other couples during the conference in early May we have a few diversions planned for the week they will be here but we are also planning on getting them up country with us a few times. Hope the weather cooperates as it has been rather unpredictable as of late. The long rainy season is suppose to be over now but it did rain fairly good early this morning. Not sure if they got any moisture up country but they sure need it to salvage any beans or maize out of this growing season. I will admit by local standards it is turning a little chilly but then that just means lower 50s and we can see our breath on our early morning walks once we have worked up our body temperatures. I remind myself and my companion that despite what the locals say that since there is no snow its not really cold. The Kulunga Hills are quite often shrouded in a pretty heavy fog when we arrive in the mornings lately but it is pretty well burnt off when we leave each afternoon. The moisture present in those fog banks is insufficient to do the crops much good but it does keep the road dust down some what.
Not much changed in our programs up country with the exception of starting a "Teacher Development Course" with 5 members in the Kyambeke Branch and another young man approached us seeking help to submit paperwork for a mission application. That will make 6 missionaries in the field from our 3 little branches when we leave here in 12 months. That will be a big boost in branch leadership potential 2 years down the road once these 6 all return home. We are still trying to prepare the paperwork for a new branch in the Matini area but have had a hard time locating maps to support the application request. Thought we had solved that when I sent a letter to the Ministry of Lands but it turns out that the minister himself has to approve my request before any one can sell us the map sections we need. Not sure if the feet dragging is a way of seeking a bribe but have decided that if we don't have positive results by the time the folks leave on 3 July that I am just going to trot out my cartography skills and draw a sketch map of my own design. How do you think the brethren in Salt Lake will respond if I identify slow and no go areas with likely avenues of approach covered with overlapping fields of fire?
They have opened a couple of new sections of road lately which would seem to ease the strain of our road trips each day but not so as they have just created some longer deviations in other areas of our travels. I have pretty well convinced myself that most of the roadwork going on in the areas we traverse will not be completed during our stay in Africa. Well I need to sign off so I will be alert for tomorrows travels. Not sure when I will get a report off next week as we will be at the Kilaguni Lodge in Tsavo (the T is silent) next Monday. If any of you have seen the movie of the 2 killer lions that devoured a goodly number of people while they were constructing the railroad from Mombasa to Uganda well that really happened and it was in Tsavo. If I remember the story right those two stuffed beasts are on display now either in the Smithsonian or a museum in Chicago so we should be relatively safe and it will give the folks a chance to see more elephants and lions than are in the game park here in Nairobi.
Elder & Sister Bishop
Monday, June 23, 2008
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Weekly Update 6-15-08
It is 6:00 Monday morning and sense I had a rather restless night I am going to jot down a few of my thoughts before our work day begins. We got together for a Father's Day Feast with 4 of the other couples after attending church in Kilili yesterday. Because the majority of cows here are descendants of the Zebu cattle they don't tend to do much marbling in their meat which makes it a little tougher than what I have devoured for so many years. This means whenever I gorge myself as I did yesterday that my 60 year old stomach then spends most of the night digesting the meat for me. It was so good though.
We were able to get another sister cleared for baptism yesterday while in Kilili. All of our baptisms have been referrals of sorts since our schedule does not allow us to spend anytime looking for investigators. Many of them have been coming to church for several years and have just struggled to understand the questions for baptism in English. This sisters name was Beatrice and she is a 29 year old widow with 4 children. She had been through the interview process several times before and was devastated when unable to answer the questions to the satisfaction of those conducting the interview. We took her through the discussions again, reviewed the pamphlets with her, made some reading assignments in True to the Faith and then spent time reading in Book of Mormon Stories. We relied heavily on the 3 young men waiting for mission calls to assist us in all this. Just to make sure we had all the help we could get we also fasted for her yesterday. She did great and will be baptized next Sunday. She wanted her 10 year old daughter Mumbua to be baptized with her but her english is still pretty shaky so rather than have her discouraged with a failed interview is going to assist us in working with her to prepare for her own baptism. That should really help both of them to discuss the gospel topics in english. Because of Mumbua's requirement to attend school we can only meet with her during the 3 vacation months (April, August & December) and the Sundays we attend at Kilili.
We got the word from the Johannesburg Temple this week that they will accommodate all our Kilili group at the temple in December and promised to get us a January date to support the folks from the other 2 branches shortly. So now it is just working on documents which is no sure thing. One young man we have been working with finally got his ID card this week which is the first step towards a passport. The ID card application fee is only 150 shillings but by the time he finally got it he had paid another 750 in bribes. We have one dear sister that has been waiting since last Aug. and still no card yet. Unfortunately many of the officials once they suppose they have a little authority think they have the right to demand extra favors. There is much lip service given to fighting graft and corruption here but there are also a lot of deaths that result from offended neighbors wielding sharp pangas. (There was an item in the paper this week of a community that hacked up 4 of their neighbors and then buried them alive because they suspected them of witchcraft.) So I appreciate the frustration of people who struggle to ensure there is sufficient food to eat each day, who just continue on with life according to tribal traditions and avoid getting hung up in government bureaucracy. Unfortunately that does not meet the requirements for a passport and they can't leave home without it.
Not many more new things to report on this week so I will close with a few musings that over came me as I sat in Priesthood Meeting yesterday and heard the sweet little Primary Children singing outside "I am a Child of God" in their cute little African accents. Pres. Mckay had it right when he taught that the home and family are one of our greatest joys. I appreciate what a rare privilege it is to work with him (Heavenly Father) in this joint venture as an earthly father and develop this special relationship with spirit brothers and sisters. To expand that a little more the appreciation I have for family and friends for all they have done to help me along here on planet earth is significant. Yes I should have tried a little harder myself at times and been a little less gruff and more outgoing but that is water under the bridge. It is true that as we try to live like our Father in Heaven wants we certainly gain a love and appreciation for our fellow beings.
Thanks to all and God Bless.
Elder & Sister Bishop
We were able to get another sister cleared for baptism yesterday while in Kilili. All of our baptisms have been referrals of sorts since our schedule does not allow us to spend anytime looking for investigators. Many of them have been coming to church for several years and have just struggled to understand the questions for baptism in English. This sisters name was Beatrice and she is a 29 year old widow with 4 children. She had been through the interview process several times before and was devastated when unable to answer the questions to the satisfaction of those conducting the interview. We took her through the discussions again, reviewed the pamphlets with her, made some reading assignments in True to the Faith and then spent time reading in Book of Mormon Stories. We relied heavily on the 3 young men waiting for mission calls to assist us in all this. Just to make sure we had all the help we could get we also fasted for her yesterday. She did great and will be baptized next Sunday. She wanted her 10 year old daughter Mumbua to be baptized with her but her english is still pretty shaky so rather than have her discouraged with a failed interview is going to assist us in working with her to prepare for her own baptism. That should really help both of them to discuss the gospel topics in english. Because of Mumbua's requirement to attend school we can only meet with her during the 3 vacation months (April, August & December) and the Sundays we attend at Kilili.
We got the word from the Johannesburg Temple this week that they will accommodate all our Kilili group at the temple in December and promised to get us a January date to support the folks from the other 2 branches shortly. So now it is just working on documents which is no sure thing. One young man we have been working with finally got his ID card this week which is the first step towards a passport. The ID card application fee is only 150 shillings but by the time he finally got it he had paid another 750 in bribes. We have one dear sister that has been waiting since last Aug. and still no card yet. Unfortunately many of the officials once they suppose they have a little authority think they have the right to demand extra favors. There is much lip service given to fighting graft and corruption here but there are also a lot of deaths that result from offended neighbors wielding sharp pangas. (There was an item in the paper this week of a community that hacked up 4 of their neighbors and then buried them alive because they suspected them of witchcraft.) So I appreciate the frustration of people who struggle to ensure there is sufficient food to eat each day, who just continue on with life according to tribal traditions and avoid getting hung up in government bureaucracy. Unfortunately that does not meet the requirements for a passport and they can't leave home without it.
Not many more new things to report on this week so I will close with a few musings that over came me as I sat in Priesthood Meeting yesterday and heard the sweet little Primary Children singing outside "I am a Child of God" in their cute little African accents. Pres. Mckay had it right when he taught that the home and family are one of our greatest joys. I appreciate what a rare privilege it is to work with him (Heavenly Father) in this joint venture as an earthly father and develop this special relationship with spirit brothers and sisters. To expand that a little more the appreciation I have for family and friends for all they have done to help me along here on planet earth is significant. Yes I should have tried a little harder myself at times and been a little less gruff and more outgoing but that is water under the bridge. It is true that as we try to live like our Father in Heaven wants we certainly gain a love and appreciation for our fellow beings.
Thanks to all and God Bless.
Elder & Sister Bishop
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Pictures 6-12-08
The Elams went to church at Ilima with us Sunday and found these shots of me trying to pay off our parking lot attendants rather entertaining. I have a hard time telling who I have given a sweet to already. They don't understand English enough for me to get them lined up and they would really prefer that I get confused and give them more than one which I think happened several times this week.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Weekly Update 6-7-08
It is Monday evening and I want to connect with the rest of the world before retiring for another day. Weekly events returned somewhat to our pre Temple Prep status. We have added a couple of new wrinkles. I have started working with Justus at Kyambeke to finish his CES requirements for a certificate of completion for the Missionary Preparation course. He had previously attended 8 of the 18 lessons and although I am comfortable he is ready to serve now having several course completion certificates for Seminary/Institute courses is helpful for obtaining Visas as a missionary in most of the African Nations. We are scheduling his medical and dental exams here in Nairobi for mid July and hope to be able to apply for his passport by then. In addition we are starting a teacher development class for several new teachers at Kyambeke.
Ilima had their Branch Conference yesterday which was under the direction of President Taylor and extra meetings kept us there until about 3:30 which meant it was dark by the time we arrived home last night. Elder and Sister Elam who are currently serving as the office couple wanted to ride up with us and see what the area was like so we did have some company for the long trip/hours yesterday.
As many of you know I marked my 60th year on planet earth last Thursday. Sister Bishop made a cake and we had the other couples over for cake and ice cream that evening. I do appreciate the remembrances of folks back home in the way of phone calls, e-mails, and I even scored a couple of goodies at our APO box at the Embassy today. Funny how 60 years of age is not near as old as I used to think it was. Also 60 marks that magical period when the government can no longer involuntarily call me back to active service. I had never worried that something like that might happen but it is somewhat comforting to know that this retirement is definitely permanent now.
Things are certainly getting drier here each day. We had driven in dust clouds so much this week that the vehicle had taken on a reddish hue before David washed it today. They try and keep water on the deviations but it sure don't take long for the earth around the flat areas to suck up the moisture.
Well that is pretty much it for another week. Besides it is now 10:00pm and I don't stay up much later than that and often retire earlier so that I will be alert for the 6+ hours of driving most days. I am usually pretty well beat when we arrive home as these driving conditions are pretty trying. I am glad for a divine co-pilot to get me through that portion of each day we spend on the roads or their substitutes here.
Elder & Sister Bishop
Ilima had their Branch Conference yesterday which was under the direction of President Taylor and extra meetings kept us there until about 3:30 which meant it was dark by the time we arrived home last night. Elder and Sister Elam who are currently serving as the office couple wanted to ride up with us and see what the area was like so we did have some company for the long trip/hours yesterday.
As many of you know I marked my 60th year on planet earth last Thursday. Sister Bishop made a cake and we had the other couples over for cake and ice cream that evening. I do appreciate the remembrances of folks back home in the way of phone calls, e-mails, and I even scored a couple of goodies at our APO box at the Embassy today. Funny how 60 years of age is not near as old as I used to think it was. Also 60 marks that magical period when the government can no longer involuntarily call me back to active service. I had never worried that something like that might happen but it is somewhat comforting to know that this retirement is definitely permanent now.
Things are certainly getting drier here each day. We had driven in dust clouds so much this week that the vehicle had taken on a reddish hue before David washed it today. They try and keep water on the deviations but it sure don't take long for the earth around the flat areas to suck up the moisture.
Well that is pretty much it for another week. Besides it is now 10:00pm and I don't stay up much later than that and often retire earlier so that I will be alert for the 6+ hours of driving most days. I am usually pretty well beat when we arrive home as these driving conditions are pretty trying. I am glad for a divine co-pilot to get me through that portion of each day we spend on the roads or their substitutes here.
Elder & Sister Bishop
Monday, June 2, 2008
Weekly Update 6-2-08
Well yesterday was Madaraka Day (celebrating 45 years of self rule and coincidently it marked 45 days of peace under the new coalition government) so today is a holiday. I figured those kind of things didn't have much effect on the folks up in the hills but church attendance at Kyambeke was rather sparse yesterday. For the most part things are pretty calm here in Kenya by local standards. The current big row is whether to grant amnesty to those arrested for violence during the problems in Dec/Jan. One side is saying what other recourse do the wananchi (I think that is Swahili for populace) have when an election is stolen while others counter that violent crimes are never excusable. Be interesting to see where this one settles out as life is pretty cheap here. Lynchings by the wananchi are pretty common. One that I found rather interesting lately was some guy got in an argument at a card game and stabbed his opponent to death before fleeing. The locals hunted him down and frog marched him back to the scene of the crime where they beat him to death and then put a tire around his neck and started it on fire. What kind of atmosphere would that make for our hand and foot games back home? I guess the thing that really is different is that the only repercussion for the vigilantes is the police will take the victims away if they get to them in time and if not they encourage the folks to let them handle it next time. I had thought from reading the news paper that the court system was pretty quick to hand down death sentences but there was an article this week bemoaning the number of folks on death row as it has been some years since an actual hanging of a convicted criminal by legal system. I guess they are not quite as quick to impose sentences as the folks north of us in Iraq and Iran but there are a good number done in by the vigilante style lynchings each week.
We officially held our last Temple Prep class this last week and came up with a final tally of 27 adults and 15 children who are planning to make the trip. Several of the adults are planning on having the children sealed at another time. It is still a good number more than what we were able to reserve rooms for in December so need to try and get an additional date scheduled with the Temple this week. We just need to keep pushing for their documents as only one of the group has a passport at present.
Our days with the branches will now shift back to a major focus on keyboard and English with a rotating focus on training with the different auxiliaries. When we arrived last Aug the branches were wondering about a youth conference of sorts so we are trying to lean a little forward in the saddle and plan with them for this Aug when the kids are out for their next month break from school. Still trying to come up with a map and information for a proposed split of the Kyambeke Branch for Pres. Taylor's review. We are not suppose to baptize folks that have to walk more than 40 minutes to church and there were people well in excess of that when we arrived. Google Earth does not get close enough in that area to give us what we need so I have been trying to get someone to check with the water resource board or a similar agency for something that would make sense to the folks in Salt Lake.
Well must run so we can get a few things done at Upper Hill before it shuts down for the day. The natives are taking the day off for celebrating their holiday so the wazungas are planning an event of their own in the early afternoon which will impact us as we are the FHE hosts this week. We also are trying to make some adjustments in our personal life styles as it appears that we will both be living with a couple of 60 year olds by the 24th of this month. Never thought I would live that long but I am kind of glad that it appears we will make that and beyond now.
Elder & Sister Bishop
We officially held our last Temple Prep class this last week and came up with a final tally of 27 adults and 15 children who are planning to make the trip. Several of the adults are planning on having the children sealed at another time. It is still a good number more than what we were able to reserve rooms for in December so need to try and get an additional date scheduled with the Temple this week. We just need to keep pushing for their documents as only one of the group has a passport at present.
Our days with the branches will now shift back to a major focus on keyboard and English with a rotating focus on training with the different auxiliaries. When we arrived last Aug the branches were wondering about a youth conference of sorts so we are trying to lean a little forward in the saddle and plan with them for this Aug when the kids are out for their next month break from school. Still trying to come up with a map and information for a proposed split of the Kyambeke Branch for Pres. Taylor's review. We are not suppose to baptize folks that have to walk more than 40 minutes to church and there were people well in excess of that when we arrived. Google Earth does not get close enough in that area to give us what we need so I have been trying to get someone to check with the water resource board or a similar agency for something that would make sense to the folks in Salt Lake.
Well must run so we can get a few things done at Upper Hill before it shuts down for the day. The natives are taking the day off for celebrating their holiday so the wazungas are planning an event of their own in the early afternoon which will impact us as we are the FHE hosts this week. We also are trying to make some adjustments in our personal life styles as it appears that we will both be living with a couple of 60 year olds by the 24th of this month. Never thought I would live that long but I am kind of glad that it appears we will make that and beyond now.
Elder & Sister Bishop
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